BY Emmanuel Aziken

Senator Pius Ewherido has instituted an Urhobo language competition among youths in Delta Central senatorial district of Delta State, as a means of reviving the language among the youths. The key attraction in the competition, which is open to Urhobo between 10 and 25 years, is a brand new car.

The competition, Senator Ewherido said, was in fulfillment of his election campaign promises, to check the language drift among youths in the senatorial district, who he claimed had lost the ability to communicate in the language.

Pledging his determination to revive fluent communication in the Urhobo language during a session with newsmen in his office, Ewherido, lamented that the language could go into extinction given the progressing failure of many Urhobo youths to speak or write in the language.

He noted that the competition would hold in the eight local government areas of Delta Central senatorial district with competitors being quizzed on topics including, “traditional idioms of the Urhobo people to test their understanding of the language, Urhobo cultural attributes, innuendos, story telling, translations from English to Urhobo, essay writing, debates among other considerations.”

In addition to the new car to be won by the overall winner, winners at the local government areas, he added will also go home with prizes.